CCFC Blog

As kids get older, can they and their friends enjoy commercial-free fun at home?
This is the third post in CCFC's series: Commercial Quandaries for Modern Parents. Click here to read the rest of the series. Q:My 3 sons, ages 11, 8, and 4 are starting to spend a lot more time with friends lately. We have limits on screen time at our house and spend most of our toy money on building and thinking toys. But my boys don't seem to want play with their friends at our house and their friends would rather not play here as well. How can we make our house more "fun" for friends without giving in to the hyped up toys, video games, and especially toys from movies that are inappropriate for my children to...

Today, CCFC released a groundbreaking new report, OUT OF BOUNDS: The NFL’s Intensive Campaign to Target Children, exposing the National Football League’s marketing blitz aimed at kids. The league’s new strategies to woo kids have serious consequences, including increased sedentary screen time, exposure to junk-food marketing, loss of valuable instructional time in school, encouraging gambling behaviors, and exposure to the league’s off-the-field controversies.
Writing this report was difficult for me. I’ve been a diehard professional football fan since elementary school, the age when the majority of the NFL's fans first become interested in the games. For the past 35 years, I’ve spent nearly every Sunday during football season...

To everything there is a season. . .
The coming months at CCFC will be poignant ones for me. I've decided it is time for me to leave the organization I founded and love. My last day will be June 30th. I am as passionate about ending marketing to children as ever. But as CCFC expands and evolves, I believe I have taken it as far as my particular skills and attributes will allow. It's time for change. I'm thankful that my fantastically competent and committed colleague Josh Golin and a dedicated Board of Directors will carry on this work. Josh will become Executive Director on July 1st.
I've been privileged to work closely with so many deeply ethical and effective advocates around the world and with parents, educators,...

This is the second post in our new series CCFC Q&A: Commercial Quandaries for Modern Parents. Click here to read the first post.Q:I struggle with exposing our 2-year-old son to Curious George. I recognize there was a study out of New Hampshire that indicated children did well in school if they had viewed this program. However, as much as I enjoy the problem solving on the show and the use of the character as a springboard for learning, I get uncomfortable when my toddler can't take his eyes away from the screen. We try to limit screen time, but it seems to relax him so much after a day at his early childhood center. Recently, he didn't even greet his father after he had been...

This is the first post in our new series CCFC Q&A: Commercial Quandaries for Modern Parents.Q:We made the mistake of letting Thomas into our almost-four-year-old's life and now he is obsessed. I like the wooden track as it encourages creativity and problem solving (and there are plenty of non-Thomas trains for it) but I cringe daily at the requests for ever more characters and so forth to add to his collection. I wish I had looked into it more before exposing him to it—we like trains in our family, that's about all the thinking that went into it. Is there any undoing this? I feel as though Britt Allcroft has a firm grip on our son's soul (and our bank account). :( —Jennifer
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The TOADY (Toys Oppressive and Destructive to Young children) Award goes to the AT&T U-verse app by BabyFirst, the first two-screen experience for babies.
Crystal Brunnelli of Raymond, NH explained why the U-verse app, which encourages babies to use an iPad while watching TV, is the worst of the worst: "This is insidious. It seems creative and interactive, but it's not the kind of creativity and interactivity that developing babies need, and may actually harm their development." For Laura LeClair of Sunderland, MA, BabyFirst's targeting of newborns earned her TOADY vote, "I've got to go with the 'toy' that's marketed to children ages 0-5. Really? Zero? Newborns should use this 2-screen abomination?"
Other nominees had...

Each year, the Toy Industry Association gathers to present its TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards. In honor of the industry that has led the way in commercializing childhood, CCFC will present its TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the Worst Toy of the Year. From thousands of toys that promote precocious sexuality to children and push branded and screen-based entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC has selected five exceptional finalists. Our next nominee is:
LeapBand by LeapFrog
Wearable screens are all the rage. Shouldn’t your little one have one too? The LeapFrog LeapBand, the first fitness tracker for...

Each year, the Toy Industry Association gathers to present its TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards. In honor of the industry that has led the way in commercializing childhood, CCFC will present its TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the Worst Toy of the Year. From thousands of toys that promote precocious sexuality to children and push branded and screen-based entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC has selected five exceptional finalists. Our next nominee is:
U-verse app by BabyFirst
There’s no evidence that one screen benefits babies . . . so why not try two? Prepare your little one for a lifetime of...

Each year, the Toy Industry Association gathers to present its TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards. In honor of the industry that has led the way in commercializing childhood, CCFC will present its TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the Worst Toy of the Year. From thousands of toys that promote precocious sexuality to children and push branded and screen-based entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC has selected five exceptional finalists. Our next nominee is:
Anything app by Cartoon Network
Worried your child doesn’t have an attention span long enough to consume his recommended daily dose of branded...

Each year, the Toy Industry Association gathers to present its TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards. In honor of the industry that has led the way in commercializing childhood, CCFC will present its TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the Worst Toy of the Year. From thousands of toys that promote precocious sexuality to children and push branded and screen-based entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC has selected five exceptional finalists. Our next nominee is:
Mini Mall by miWorld
Finally a toy that nurtures little girls’ inner mall rat! Immerse your daughter in the mind-numbing commercialism of America’s...

From Our Blog

3/9/2018  Two nationally-renowned experts on the impacts of school policies on children’s wellbeing—Alex Molnar and Faith Boninger—urge Maryland lawmakers to endorse HB 1110, the groundbreaking legislation which would protect children from the known health... Read more...

2/27/2018  Maryland lawmakers are considering groundbreaking legislation to protect children from the known health risks of digital devices used in schools. If you're a Maryland resident, please sign our petition in support of this bill. Read more...